Okay, first thing’s first: when this game launched, it was a bit of a piss-take. £40 for what was essentially a bonus minigame in previous Resi games. There were also rumours around launch that the game’s save files could not be deleted, leading to some stores refusing trade-in. I think for me, the game was among the early batch of 3DS carts which I killed because I stupidly kept them in my wallet. I later downloaded the game again from the eShop for something like £7 and it was far more agreeable at that price.

The mercenaries mode on Resident Evil 4 was a regular fixture for lunchtime gaming sessions back when I was 16 or so. Taking it in turns to chase high scores, coming up with dumb in-jokes, even sharing a nunchuk and remote to play it in “nurse” mode. Seeing that it was coming to a handheld machine, with more maps and characters than ever, well that’s just perfect, right?

This is a real looker for the 3DS. It was actually all over the TV advertising when the machine launched- of all the early games, I think this one best showed the leap from the original DS. On the 3DS’ little screen, the levels from Resi 5 looked indistinguishable from their PS3 and Xbox 360 incarnations.

In actual play, this isn’t quite a straight rip of the Mercs mode from the full console games. It starts with some tutorial missions and time trials and stuff, easing the player into the controls and mechanics. There are multiple different missions in each map, even including bosses and stuff, but all ultimately culminating in a classic full Mercs mode on the full map.

As I mentioned earlier, most of my previous experience with Mercenaries, and with Resident Evil generally, was on the Wii version of Resi 4. With those remote controls, aiming and stuff was a breeze. Here, the controls are slightly awkward, with obviously only one stick and subsequently a need to hold down a shoulder button and stand still in order to aim. It even predates circle-pad pro functionality, so there are no twin-stick options on the new Nintendo 3DS.

Similar to how Cappa described Ridge Racer 3D, this is a bit of a “now that’s what I call Resi”. It doesn’t have a plot, or puzzle-solving, or exploration or even any scares. What it does have is tense and relentless violence. For me, the best moments in the series are when you’re trying to survive against the odds, desperately squeezing usage out of every single bullet and constantly feeling your heart pounding at the same rate as a machine gun. This game extracts and distils that exact feeling, then injects it directly into your blood.

ONM called it “A brilliant and bloody rampage through recent Resi lore. High score chasers only.” That’s entirely fair, to be honest. For the Ballas of the world, looking to play through a storyline and be done, this is gonna be a tough sell. But for someone with a 3DS permanently stashed in their pocket who might want to pop some heads like watermelons during train rides and toilet breaks, I can’t imagine anything better.

NGamer were even more positive: “Really hard to put down, even though it makes our palms all sweaty and gives us horrible dreams about chainsaw men. You've got to play this - it's great.”

If we’d done a traditional 3DS vote, there’s no way this game would have gotten a look-in. It isn’t even the best Resident Evil game on the system: Revelations came along and gave us twin-stick controls and a proper singleplayer adventure. Nonetheless, playing through Resident Evil 5 recently, and looking at the Switch soon having a decent spread of the games from 1 to 4, has put me in the mood to dive properly into this franchise that I’ve always been on the periphery of. And for the full 8 years I’ve owned a 3DS, this has been just a few taps of the touch screen away from a quick round.

It will definitely take some getting used to if you pick this up now. The controls were a little odd back in 2011, but by now the standard for shooters is set in absolute stone. The game does a nice enough job of introducing you slowly, and that little disconnect has always helped to add to the tension in a Resi game. When some beastie lumbers into view, the moment of panic before you remember how to line up a headshot is gold. If you add up all the time my heart has stopped thanks to those moments, I think I’m clinically dead.#PrayForDrunka#FreeTheSimpsons

You can probably find this one for ten sheets at CEX as well- and possibly for even less on the eShop. Will it take you on a journey? Nah. Will it scare you? Only if you’re a coward who won’t even eat his ladyfriend’s ass. Will it get under your skin like the Ouroboros Virus and keep you up at night chasing the best possible score? Fuck yes.

Did anyone else play this? Is anyone else thinking of giving it a go now? I know I am – I don’t think I ever completed my eShop version, so I want to unlock all these ridiculous muscly men. Gobble up a mouthfull, and let's talk some bollocks.

I was a big fan of this as well and if I remember right it had little shout outs for each character which I found hilarious to spam all the time - also interesting that you bring up the controls because at the time I felt like the only one who wasn't bothered it didn't have aiming with a second stick as in my mind that didn't fit what Resi was about. It'll be interesting to see what type of control settings they offer when RE4 comes to Switch as on gamecube it was R to ready weapon & A to shoot.

Mercenaries 3D left a bad taste in my mouth. Not because I was munching on Drunkalilly's missus's ringpiece when I was playing it, but because I was one of the folk who planted £40 on it when it first released. Money was tight, and I shifted some quality DS and Wii games to pay for something that gave me a tiny fraction of the entertainment that those lost games did. I stuck with it, but I didn't think there was much going on.

I was really vocal about my dislike for it. I remember the NGamer Twitter called me "a cynic" because I was slagging it off. I was just bitter, and being a tadger about it. It's really not that bad, and for it's current price...aye.

That said, all credit to you, Drunkalilly: that was a great write-up that's made me like the game quite a bit more, and made me go shopping for a copy during my lunch break. I didn't see it, but I'll keep looking

For the Ballas of the world, looking to play through a storyline and be done, this is gonna be a tough sell.

Well it was a nice idea, but I think we can all agree that Cappa's thread has been shite and look forward to the vote thread next week.

More seriously... yeah this really isn't for me. Everything in Drunka's review that he posits as a good thing, I don't like ('a looker', for example - technically solid, I'm sure, but the art style puts me right off, as you'd no doubt expect). Roll on the next game!

(cut to two days later when Cappa has found a copy for £0.99 in a charity shop and is praising the pants off it)

For me, though I'm much like your Balla example, without a story of some sort to hold it together, getting high scores only appealed to me for so long.

Bad man.

The_Jaster wrote:

That's a great pick!

Good man.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Mercenaries 3D left a bad taste in my mouth.

Bad man.

Balladeer wrote:

Well it was a nice idea, but I think we can all agree that Cappa's thread has been shite and look forward to the vote thread next week . . . 'a looker', for example - technically solid, I'm sure, but the art style puts me right off, as you'd no doubt expect

Balls Man

So yeah, I fired this up again yesterday. I actually cleared my data and started from scratch. It still looks and plays smooth, and it got those hooks in pretty quick. Even on the early tutorial levels, I obsessively made sure to get SS rank with every character I currently have (Chris, Jill, Hunk and now Claire.)

I can see this being my 3DS game of choice for a little while (along with Pokemon, natch).

Jaster X wrote:

if I remember right it had little shout outs for each character which I found hilarious to spam all the time

Oh yeah- I didn't even mention the online multiplayer!

Quote :

also interesting that you bring up the controls because at the time I felt like the only one who wasn't bothered it didn't have aiming with a second stick as in my mind that didn't fit what Resi was about.

Yeah, to be fair when I had a bash last night it didn't bother me one little bit.

The Kid wrote:

That said, all credit to you, Drunkalilly: that was a great write-up that's made me like the game quite a bit more, and made me go shopping for a copy during my lunch break. I didn't see it, but I'll keep looking

Wahey! I hope you find a copy. It would obviously be good for this thread, but even beyond that it'd be a laugh for a few of us to have some scores on the go and stuff.

I'm in the same position as yourself Drunka with looking to explore the Resi series, which is probably one of the few big franchises I've not played properly at this point. I had fun with RE5 and knowing that there's supposedly better installments on the way has me excited.

I'm not sure if this would be one of them though! The Mercenaries mode sounds like a good laugh as a side mode, but I don't think I'd be able to drive myself to play a game centred around that mode. I'm not much of a score attacker, really. Couple that with shooting mechanics which might feel hamstrung compared to modern shooters - I was already struggling with RE5 at points! - and you've got a bit of a hard sell for me, sadly.

Still, the visuals on that screenshot ain't half bad for a 3DS title and it sounds like it'd be worth a pop for those that are high score hunters. Perhaps there could even be a high score league of sorts on here if there's enough interest in it? And again, a cracking write-up from yourself Drunka. If the calibre of writing remains at this level, we're in for a legendary thread.

On a totally unrelated note, I miss that era of Videogamer. What a team.

I think I've played a little more Resi than yourself Jay- I finished 4 multiple times, I played through Revelations on 3DS and I tried to play the original on both PS1 and the DS. After Rob and I finish 5, though, I'm gonna look into playing a bunch more before we find a copy of 6.

And yeah, classic VG was gold. Everything from the Matt Lees days until Jim and Burns left . . .

You've got a lot of catching up with the 24 games (not including mobile, also you could count the game.com verison as Res Evil 2 as it's own game for instance) games which I've only played 20 of them and finished 16.

The ones I'm serious about trying to play are 1, 2, 3, Code Veronica, 0, Revelations 1&2, 6 and 7. With 1 and 2, for example, I'll happily play the old versions when they come to Switch or the new versions if and when I get a PS4, but Im not bothered about playing every iteration. I'll inevitably replay 4 when I get to that point as well . . . so 10 games. Not impossible . . . but a lot of game!

The Switch is getting Zero HD, ReMake HD and 4 HD at some point soon plus you could still play the streaming version of 7 whilst in Japan plus you have the Revelations Collection on it.

The one that's going to be the one hardeat to play is Resistant Evil 3 as it's not available on any current system in any form as at least with most on PS4 you have the HD remaster and now a Remake of 2.

I did play Mercs as the bonus mode on Resi 4. However, I would say I felt like I'd had my fill there. After a pretty epic adventure, I thoughts that a score attack mode wasn't worth coming back to regularly - although I did have a lot of fun initially. Therefore, going back to a point you made originally, I didn't want to shell out a lot of money for the 3DS game, seeing it as a slightly expanded bit of periphery.

(at least you two have played some unusual 3DS games; looking at my shelf, I've only got really obvious games - or ones I played about 5 minutes of)

Is it time for another game? I've got one prepared (it's not a JRPG, although I would like to do one such further down the line if people are alright with that), but I think Mas claimed next one before me.